This blog follows my research into the history of our local movie theaterβ The Goetzβ and surrounding personalities. Every family has its black sheep. Archduke Rainer came to my attention because of the following press clipping:. Another group the motion picture producers had to watch out for were the exhibitors, the theater owners and managers. For the most part they engaged in a different kind of stealing from Hollywood than that performed by the print stealing pirates, although cinema employees were often key access people in those rings.
At the level of theater owner and management, the stealing was different. An exhibitor who had rented a film legitimately for a specified period of time, say, for one week at a fixed sum of dollars, would try and screen the print for an extra day or two at the beginning or end of his run. Or the cinema owner would rent the movie for one of his theaters and then screen it illegally at another theater he owned.
Or two exhibitors would each rent half as many films as they needed for a full program and then swap the movies back and forth each night, giving each a full program for half the price.
In some cases reels of films were sped one by one to a second theater after they finished screening in one venue. Sometimes this was done by bicycle messenger. As early as exhibitors were reported to be engaged in bicycling. Several New York City exchanges, according to one account, tolerated the practice-- if they were informed before the event and consented.
In those cases they charged 25 percent over the contracted price. A man skilled in the maintenance of said motorcycles would have an economic advantage over competitors who would have to hire in mechanical expertise. This wear was significant because film was delicate. When exchanges were compensated for the extra wear, they had little reason to be concerned about multiple showings, provided the film was returned on time.
